Anthony Hopkins: Skuespillet i Breaking Bad er det bedste jeg har set nogensinde

Anthony Hopkins var egentlig ikke fan af Breaking Bad. Men det ændrede sig, da han, op mod slutningen på serien, bestemte sig for at kaste sig over de første afsnit af fortællingen om kemilæreren, der bliver narkobaron.
Det førte til 14 dages intens visning af samtlige afsnit hjemme hos den legendariske skuespiller. Og nu har Hopkins, der vandt en Oscar for sin rolle i Ondskabens Øjne i 1991, overøst skuespillerne i Breaking Bad med ros, og han kalder Bryan Cranstons skuespil, det bedste han nogensinde har set.

Hopkins først Breaking Bad fan for et par uger siden

Hopkins kastede sig frådende over Breaking Bad for et par uger siden, og kunne derefter slet ikke slippe serien igen. Og efter han havde slugt det hele, skrev han en mail til Bryan Cranston og resten af Breaking Bad holdet, for at rose dem.
Blandt andet skriver Hitchcock-skuespilleren:
– Din optræden som Walter White er det bedste skuespil jeg har set – nogensinde. Dit arbejde er spektakulært, helt fantstisk, skriver Hopkins.
Rosen kommer i en e-mail som skuespilleren Steven Michael Quezada, der spillede rollen som Politimanden Steve Gomez i Breaking Bad, offentliggjorde efter finaleafsnittet.

Roser til hele Breaking Bad holdet

Det er ikke bare Cranston der får ros for rollen som Walter White, hele skuespillerholdet overvælder Anthony Hopkins.
– Det der er ekstraordinært er den samlede kraft fra alle i hele produktionen. Det var lige som at se en Jacobisk, Shakespearesk eller græsk tragedie, skriver Hopkins, der samtidig beder Bryan Cranston om at bringe hans hyldest videre til hele holdet af skuespillere i Breaking Bad.
Det er da roser der er værd at gemme på, når de kommer fra en af verdens mest respekterede skuespillere.
Her er hele brevet til Breaking Bad holdet fra Anthony Hopkins:

Dear Mister Cranston.
I wanted to write you this email – so I am contacting you through Jeremy Barber – I take it we are both represented by UTA . Great agency.
I’ve just finished a marathon of watching “BREAKING BAD” – from episode one of the First Season – to the last eight episodes of the Sixth Season. (I downloaded the last season on AMAZON) A total of two weeks (addictive) viewing.
I have never watched anything like it. Brilliant!
Your performance as Walter White was the best acting I have seen – ever.
I know there is so much smoke blowing and sickening bullshit in this business, and I’ve sort of lost belief in anything really.
But this work of yours is spectacular – absolutely stunning. What is extraordinary, is the sheer power of everyone in the entire production. What was it? Five or six years in the making? How the producers (yourself being one of them), the writers, directors, cinematographers…. every department – casting etc. managed to keep the discipline and control from beginning to the end is (that over used word) awesome.
From what started as a black comedy, descended into a labyrinth of blood, destruction and hell. It was like a great Jacobean, Shakespearian or Greek Tragedy.
If you ever get a chance to – would you pass on my admiration to everyone – Anna Gunn, Dean Norris, Aaron Paul, Betsy Brandt, R.J. Mitte, Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Steven Michael Quezada – everyone – everyone gave master classes of performance … The list is endless.
Thank you. That kind of work/artistry is rare, and when, once in a while, it occurs, as in this epic work, it restores confidence.
You and all the cast are the best actors I’ve ever seen.
That may sound like a good lung full of smoke blowing. But it is not. It’s almost midnight out here in Malibu, and I felt compelled to write this email.
Congratulations and my deepest respect. You are truly a great, great actor.
Best regards
Tony Hopkins.